The 8-a-side tournament hosted by Fazlani at Raghuvanshi Mills was definitely one to be proud of and learn from for the Ascend U17 football team. It was a display of talent, skill, and team spirit that allowed for the team to thrive in the heart of Mumbai.

The first few games were fitting to a description of ‘mediocre’ and the team definitely was not happy with how they went. While the Ascend team pretty much dominated both games, a 1-1 draw to Hill Spring International, a 3-3 draw to Ecole Mondiale World School, and a 2-2 draw to Fazlani resulted in the buildup of tension regarding potential elimination. 

The last game of the group stages was a must-win for the Ascend team. Even if it was won, the next two games wouldhave to go a certain way in order for Ascend to qualify for the finals. The game would be played against Aditya Birla World Academy, who were on top of the table at the time with two games in hand. A dominant and spirit-full performance enabled Ascend to emerge victorious with a scoreline of 1-0. The team then intently watched the next game, which resulted in the qualification of Ascend to the finals of the tournament.

Finally, Ascend faced Aditya Birla World Academy yet again in the final game of the tournament. The scoreline being 0-0 at halftime, the game was tight and no team really had a clear advantage over another. While both teams had created many chances, none were really expected to be converted. In the second half, with two minutes left of the game, Aditya Birla scored, and to many, it felt that all was lost. However, After winning a free kick in the opponent’s half, with barely a minute to spare, Siddharth Piramal provided an excellent pass to Aarez Zaidi, who was able to simply flick the ball into the back of the net with a flawless finish.

An unlucky loss in the best-of-3 penalty shootout caused the team to narrowly miss a first place finish in the tournament.